Rethinking Virtual Commodification, or The Virtual Kitchen Sink

Lori Landay

Abstract

A virtual home, rented or on one's own land, whether similar to an actual world home or some other kind of space, is not just a simulacra of the familar to make the metaphors of place manifest in a virtual world. It is not just a mirror image, but its own place, a locus of experiences that have occurred there, and are now a part of me. I still do not see the appeal of a virtual kitchen, but I have also spent enough time in Second Life now to know that people's uses of commodities are often creative and ludic, providing frames for play and interaction that stimulate the imagination in ways I could barely glimpse a year ago. Maybe that could even include the kitchen sink.

The video file can only be found on the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research main website: http://jvwresearch.org.